A winner was finally crowned at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, and that person was Elio Fox.
Despite Fox not having many documented results on the live tournament circuit prior to 2010, this young gun from New York City was determined to prove that his talents could stand tall against even the most established circuit veterans.
In fact, Fox had to defeat the widely-known online specialist Chris “moorman1″ Moorman in an intense heads-up battle to earn the €1.4 million first-place prize. In the process, he also earned his fair share of respect amongst viewers of a highly-contested final table.
Only 25-years-old, Fox has an impressive live resume thus far which features two other first-place victories: A $87,192 score in a Deep-Stack Extravaganza and also a massive $669,692 pay day in the $10K Bellagio Cup VII this year.
It appears that Fox wanted to boost the opinions of his followers even more by bringing home the bacon in one of the most prestigious tournaments to ever grace the realm of live poker. He earned bragging rights by not only defeating the largest WSOPE Main Event field ever, but also by gaining his first WSOP bracelet in the process.
“I ran really well,” Fox said. “I think I am pretty good at poker. But people put too much stock into somebody winning a tournament and I think that all the time when the media talks about a new player winning some tournaments… there’s a lot of luck in tournaments. Short-term results in tournaments really does not matter that much.”
“There are a lot of great players with no wins to their name and some mediocre players with a lot of wins to their name. But, I was really fortunate to run this well. I certainly hope it continues.”
Fox would need to run well in this tournament, as there were huge names still lingering deep in the event, including Patrik Antonius (9th – €90,000) and the streaking 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Erik Seidel (21st – €37,000).
This result would be a big bright spot for Fox, however, seeing that in his trials in Las Vegas weren’t very indicative of his ability. He entered 17 events but didn’t cash in any of them. Nonetheless, Fox more than made up for his bad WSOP with a victory in Cannes.
Coming into the final table, Fox was the overwhelming chip leader with T3.9 million, and ran away with the lead. Triple Crown winner Jake Cody was behind Fox in chips, but luckily enough for Fox, Cody busted early in 7th to remove a big threat.
In a remarkable run of events, Cody faced multiple encounters with bad luck as he got it in good, but the last beat proved to be the most costly as his tournament ended when his pocket jacks went against pocket tens and were beaten by a straight.
Second place finisher Moorman was also running hot before he entered heads-up play against Fox. Moorman gained most of his chip stack through a hand he was involved in with Brian “flawlessvictory” Roberts, which saw Roberts flop the second-nut flush, only to be turned by the nut-flush of Moorman.
But despite the additional chips gained, it was just too difficult for Moorman to gain traction with a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage against Fox.
The 40-minute battle was intense, but Fox was clearly the hotter player as he won most of the key hands. Arguably the most crucial, it was when Fox raised his button to 200,000 with 
against the unknown hand of Moorman, that he sealed the victory. The flop fell 
, and Moorman check-raised the flop, only to be called on both the flop and turn by Fox. The river brought the 
, and saw Moorman muck his cards to the superior flush of Fox.
Now holding a 6-to-1 advantage in chips, Fox went on a raising spree, eventually having to call an all-in by Moorman’s A-7 off-suit against his A-10 off-suit. Moorman couldn’t catch any miracle cards, and finished as the runner-up worth €800,000.
On the line for Moorman was also the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year. Despite a fantastic run at the title, Ben Lamb seems to have the title locked up by being the only Top 3 player remaining with play at the WSOP. His November Nine appearance should see him overtake both Moorman and Phil Hellmuth, the two POY candidates currently ahead of him.
The WSOPE was held in Cannes, France, and was the most successful event in its history. Record numbers were set in both attendance and prize money, and players can only hope that these numbers grow in future years.
Here are the final table results and statistics for the Main Event:
€10,400 No-Limit Hold’em
Entries: 593 Prize Pool: €5,692,800
- Elio Fox – €1,400,000
- Chris Moorman – €800,000
- Moritz Kranich – €550,000
- Brian Roberts – €400,000
- Dermot Blain – €275,000
- Shawn Buchanan – €200,000
- Jake Cody – €150,000
- Max Silver – €115,000
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